Biological wastewater treatment compositions containing isolated enzymes and/or microorganisms are used in treating wastewater systems, such as, for example, septic tanks cesspools, and sewage systems. These treatment compositions are effective in breaking down solids present in the wastewater system (e.g., in the wastewater stream, holding tanks and pools), and are particularly useful in, among other things, producing a cleaner/clearer effluent, reducing odor, and permitting less maintenance of such wastewater systems by reducing the interference of the solids in the treatment process/wastewater stream flow (e.g., due to solids interfering in movement of wastewater in tanks, pools, conduits, exits/openings, pipes, etc.).
Biological treatment compositions used in the industry can generally be classified as either powder formulations or liquid formulations. Both have their advantages and disadvantages in production and usage. Powder formulations are described, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,934 and French Patent Application No. 80-10585 (Publication No. 2482130). Liquid formulations are described, e.g., in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,720,606, 4,655,794 and 5,905,037.
A continued challenge faced in the field of biological treatment compositions is providing biological wastewater treatment compositions which effectively maintain or preserve the activity of the isolated enzymes and/or microorganisms (i.e., the active ingredients) in effective/consistent amounts for application, while also providing convenient application under diverse conditions. Although the activity of the isolated enzymes and/or microorganisms must be maintained for potential application, for many of the biologically-active ingredients, activity must also be effectively controlled so that such activity is essentially only effectively initiated upon application.
In addition, isolated enzymes and microorganisms each face different challenges for creating an effective treatment composition as these individual active ingredients can also interact with each other, thereby reducing or eliminating the activity of at least one of the ingredients. Preferred biological treatment compositions also typically contain multiple different classes of isolated enzymes and different species of microorganisms, which further complicates the development of effective treatment compositions due to their actual and potential interactions. Thus, when different active ingredients are combined together for use in a wastewater treatment composition, additional complications must be addressed based on their actual or potential interactions. The wastewater treatment compositions of the prior art traditionally use a number of environmentally unfriendly ingredients (e.g., stabilizers and preservatives) to control or reduce undesirable interactions of the active ingredients.
In addition to the above challenges, an ever increasing challenge in the field is providing environmentally safe and friendly wastewater treatment compositions. In order to accomplish this, it is important to eliminate or reduce common stabilizers and/or preservatives which then present additional challenges as these ingredients are used to control or reduce unwanted undesirable interactions of enzymes and/or microorganisms.
Another challenge is to provide more concentrated products with respect to the active ingredients, e.g., to save on resources and improve handling (storage space and transportation costs). Concentration of a product containing both isolated enzymes and microorganisms is again a particularly difficult challenge, because it places these active ingredients in closer contact with each other, thereby increasing the likelihood of undesirable interactions. It is even more of a challenge to concentrate such a product while at the same time reducing or even eliminating environmentally undesirable or costly stabilizers/preservatives.
There accordingly remains a need in the art for environmentally-friendly, consumer-friendly, and effective biological waste water treatment compositions.